Passenger who carried IED that exploded in Mangaluru auto-rickshaw is missing accused in terror case

“It’s confirmed now. The blast is not accidental but an act of terror with the intention to cause serious damage. The Karnataka Police are probing deep into it along with central agencies,” Karnataka director general of police Praveen Sood said Sunday.

The IED was being carried in a bag, which was being transported by Shariq who hired the auto-rickshaw belonging to a driver, Purushotham, 60, at the Mangaluru railway station to travel to a crowded part of Mangaluru city, police sources said.

The police suspect the IED was being taken for experimentation or for planting at a location and are investigating these aspects.
The passenger in the auto-rickshaw was carrying an Aadhaar identity card of an individual by the name of Premraj Hutagi, a resident of Hubbali.

The police investigation has found that Shariq had been falsely living under the name of Premraj Hutagi in the city of Mysuru in a rented home for over a month. He allegedly travelled to Mangaluru Saturday.

The Karnataka Police Sunday carried out searches on the house in Mysuru – where Shariq had been living as Premraj Hutagi – and found evidence in the form of the materials used to construct the IED that accidentally exploded in the auto-rickshaw in Mangaluru.

The IED comprised a five-kg pressure cooker, small amounts of explosives that are yet to be identified, nuts and bolts meant to be projectiles, a circuit linked to a timing device, and a bulb filament – which acted as the detonator when the circuit was closed by the timer – said sources familiar with the investigations. Three batteries powered the circuit, they added.

Meanwhile, the family of Shariq has been called from his hometown in the Shivamogga district to identify him in the government hospital at Mangaluru, police sources said. Both Shariq and the auto-driver Purushotham are hospitalized with burn injuries in Mangaluru.

Notably, two associates of Mohammed Shariq – Maaz Ahmed and Syed Yasin, both engineers – were arrested by the Shivamogga police in September in a terror case while Shariq was reported as absconding.

The police claimed in September that the youths were linked to the Islamic State and were planning to carry out blasts and “stored material required to make explosives for the purpose”. The police said the accused learned the concept of making bombs from videos.
Earlier in 2020, Shariq and Maaz were arrested by the Mangaluru city police for painting “pro-terror graffiti; on the wall of a building in the coastal city”.

In September this year, the Shivamogga police SP, BM Laxmi Prasad, stated that Shariq discussed “fundamental ideas and concepts of jihad” with his two associates who had been arrested at the time.

The SP said Shariq used to send PDF files, audio and video files, and other links related to extremism, radicalization, work of ISIS, and other terror outfits through various encrypted messenger apps.

After learning about the concept of making bombs from PDF files and videos shared by Shariq, the accused purchased timer-relay circuits required for the bomb from an e-commerce platform. They also purchased two batteries of nine volts each, switches, wires, match-boxes, and other explosive materials in Shivamogga, the police said in September.

“The accused had experimentally exploded the bomb made by them at a place locally known as Kemmangundi on the banks of Tunga river in Shivamogga district and the experimental blast was successful,” the SP said in a statement two months ago.

Police sources said that Shariq had links with Mateen Ahmed Taha, who is said to be a member of ‘Al Hind ISIS’ which managed the terror outfit’s activities in Karnataka. Mateen also hails from Shivamogga and the National Investigation Agency announced a reward of Rs 3 lakh in 2020 for information leading to the arrest of the suspected terrorist.

The IED used in the Mangaluru auto-rickshaw blast is similar in structure to devices used by a little-known group called the ‘Base Movement’ – comprising cadre from radical Muslim groups like the proscribed Al Ummah in Tamil Nadu and others in southern India – that carried out a series of blasts in court complexes in Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh in 2016.

The first blast occurred at a district court complex in Chittoor in Andhra Pradesh on April 7, 2016, the second at Kollam in Kerala on June 15, the third at Mysuru in Karnataka on August 1, the fourth at Nellore in Andhra Pradesh on September 12, and the fifth at Malapuram in Kerala on November 1.

Five members of the Base Movement were arrested from Tamil Nadu at the end of 2016 for the blasts in court complexes in a joint operation by the NIA and the police from Andhra Pradesh and other states. They were found to have links to the proscribed Al Ummah and the PFI.

Among the distinguishing aspects of the IEDs that exploded in the court complexes in 2016 was the use of printed circuit boards as timers, an array of nine-volt batteries for power supply, the filaments of decoration lights as the detonators, and easily available material from firecrackers and matchsticks as the explosive material.

Experts said at the time that the array of batteries was used as part of a strategy to ensure the transfer of maximum electrical charge to the bulb filaments used as detonators.

The fairly sophisticated bombs were placed at parking lots, outer periphery walls, and a toilet in the courts and the blasts did not cause serious damage. No deaths occurred in the blasts.

The IEDs were found to have been constructed with household and unregulated materials as described in bomb-making manuals created originally by Al Qaeda and also distributed among the cadre of the Islamic State during the 2015-2016 period.

Following the explosion in Mangaluru Saturday evening, Mangaluru city police commissioner N Shashi Kumar said: “A special team and the FSL (Forensic Science Lab) team have collected the evidence and are ascertaining the reasons behind the incident. Some people have got injuries. They are being treated for burns.”

“There is no need for people to panic. There is no need to create confusion and spread rumours through social media. I will straightaway share the information with you whatever information we get,” he added.